Three-child policy: China lifts cap on births per family

China said on Monday that married couples may have up to three children, a major policy shift from the existing limit of two after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world's most populous country.

中国周一表示，已婚夫妇最多可以有三个孩子，这是在最近的数据显示世界上人口最多的国家的出生率急剧下降后，对现有的两个孩子限制的一个重大政策转变。

shift

1）作名词，表示“移动；改变；变向”，英文解释为“a change in position or direction”；

2）作动词，表示“改变（主意，立场等）”，英文解释为“(of an idea, opinion, etc.) to change”举个例：

Society's attitudes towards women have shifted enormously over the last century.

在过去一个世纪中，社会对女性的态度有了巨大的改变。

populous

表示“人口稠密的”，英文解释为“A populous country, area, or place has a lot of people living in it”举个例：

China is the world's most populous country.

中国是世界上人口最多的国家。

Beijing scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit that failed to result in a sustained surge in births given the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities - a challenge that remains.

中国在2016年废除了有几十年历史的独生子女政策，取而代之的是两个孩子的限制，但鉴于中国城市养育孩子的成本很高，这一限制未能导致出生率的持续激增--这一挑战依然存在。

scrap

1）表示“废弃；取消；抛弃；报废”，英文解释为“to cancel or get rid of sth that is no longer practical or useful”举个例：

They had been forced to scrap plans for a new school building.

他们已被迫撤销了建筑新校舍的计划。

2）表示“打架”，英文解释为“to fight with sb”举个例：

The bigger boys started scrapping.

年龄较大的男孩打了起来。

2019年9月份，经济学人（The Economist）的一篇关于美政府拟撤销奥巴马时期甲烷排放规定的文章中，就以「Energy companies are divided over a plan to scrap methane-emission rules」为题，用到了scrap这个词。

而在引言（unwind Obama-era environmental regulations）中则用unwind来替换scrap这一含义。

unwind一词表示“解开；放松”，英文解释为“To undo (a financial arrangement or position) through the neessary legal or financial steps. If you unwind a length of something that is wrapped around something else or around itself, you loosen it and make it straight. You can also say that it unwinds.”举个例：

One of them unwound a length of rope from around his waist.

他们中的一个人解开绕在他腰间的一条绳子。

sustained

1）表示“持续的，持久的”，英文解释为“continuing for a long time”举个例：

His speech was greeted by sustained applause.

他的演讲博得了经久不息的掌声。

2）表示“坚定的，坚持不懈的”（determined），2020年政府工作报告中的例句：持续打造市场化、法治化、国际化营商环境 make sustained efforts to create a market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment.

surge

1）作动词，表示“急剧上升；飞涨；剧增”，英文解释为“If something surges, it increases suddenly and greatly, after being steady or developing only slowly.”举个例：

The company's profits have surged.

公司的利润激增。

2）作名词，表示“剧增”，英文解释为“A surge is a sudden large increase in something that has previously been steady, or has only increased or developed slowly.”举个例：

An unexpected surge in electrical power caused the computer to crash.

突然出现的电压剧增导致电脑死机。

电影《雷神2：黑暗世界》（Thor: The Dark World）中的台词提到：But she will not survive the amount of energy surging within her. 但她体内涌动的能量太大 她撑不住的。

"To further optimise the birth policy, (China) will implement a one-married-couple-can-have-three-children policy," the official Xinhua news agency said in a report following a politburo meeting.

官方新华社在政治局会议后的一份报道中称：“为了进一步优化生育政策，（中国）将实施一对夫妻可以生育三个子女的政策。”

optimise/optimize

表示“使优化”，英文解释为“To optimize a plan, system, or machine means to arrange or design it so that it operates as smoothly and efficiently as possible.”举个例：

The new systems have been optimized for running Microsoft Windows.

新系统已经被优化，以便运行微软Windows系统。

politburo

politburo /ˈpɒlɪtˌbjʊərəʊ/表示“（共产党）政治局”，英文解释为“In communist countries the Politburo is the chief committee that decides on government policy and makes decisions.”

The policy change will come with "supportive measures, which will be conducive to improving our country's population structure, fulfilling the country's strategy of actively coping with an ageing population and maintaining the advantage, endowment of human resources", Xinhua said.

新华社说，这一政策变化将伴随着“支持性措施，这将有利于改善我国人口结构，落实积极应对人口老龄化国家战略、保持我国人力资源禀赋优势。”

conducive

表示“有利的，有助的，有益的”，英文解释为“If one thing is conducive to another thing, it makes the other thing likely to happen.”举个例：

Make your bedroom as conducive to sleep as possible.

把你的卧室尽可能地布置得有助于睡眠。

《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述疫情后影响的文章中提到：Wherever or however people end up working, the experience of living in a pandemic is not conducive to creative thought. 无论人们最终困在何地以何种方式工作，疫情期间的生活体验都不利于创造性思维。

fulfill

表示“实现；达到；履行，执行”，英文解释为“to do something that is expected, hoped for, or promised, or to cause it to happen”举个例：

A school fails if it does not fulfil the needs/requirements of its pupils.

学校如果不能满足学生的需求/要求，那它就是失败的。

《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述中国电动车行业的文章中提到：If those ambitions are fulfilled the firm's EVs will have captured about 5% of the total Chinese car market. 如果这些雄心壮志得偿所愿，那么该公司的电动车将占据中国整个汽车市场5%左右的份额。

endowment

1）表示“天赋；天资；才能”，英文解释为“something that you have from birth, often a quality”举个例：

There are tests that can establish a baby's genetic endowment.

有些测试可以测定婴儿的基因特性。

2）表示“捐款；捐赠；资助”，英文解释为“money that is given to a school, a college or another institution to provide it with an income; the act of giving this money”。

It did not specify the support measures.

它没有具体说明支持措施。

"People are held back not by the two-children limit, but by the incredibly high costs of raising children in today's China. Housing, extracurricular activities, food, trips, and everything else add up quickly," Yifei Li, a sociologist at NYU Shanghai, told Reuters.

“人们不是因为两个孩子的限制而退缩，而是因为在今天的中国，养育孩子的成本高得惊人。住房、课外活动、食物、旅行和其他一切都迅速增加，”上海纽约大学的社会学家李逸飞（Yifei Li，音译）告诉路透社（Reuters）。

hold back

表示“（常指因恐惧或不愿让事情变得更糟而）退缩，不做”，英文解释为“to not do something, often because of fear or because you do not want to make a bad situation worse”举个例：

He held back, terrified of going into the dark room.

他退缩了，不敢进入黑暗的房间。

《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述拉美电商平台美卡多的文章中提到：Fear of credit-card fraud has held back e-commerce, as have logistical nightmares in Brazil, where MercadoLibre generates more than half its revenues. 对信用卡诈骗的担忧阻碍了电子商务的发展，巴西的物流恶梦也是个因素，而美卡多在巴西的收入超过公司总收入的一半。

extracurricular

extracurricular /ˌɛkstrəkəˈrɪkjʊlə/ 表示“（活动、主题等）课外的”，英文解释为“An extracurricular activity or subject is not part of the usual school or college course.”

In a poll on Xinhua's Weibo account asking #AreYouReady for the three-child policy, about 29,000 of 31,000 respondents said they would “never think of it” while the remainder chose among the options: "I'm ready and very eager to do so", "it's on my agenda", or “I'm hesitating and there's lot to consider”.

在新华社的微博账户上进行的一项关于#三孩来了，你准备好了吗#的调查中，3.1万名受访者中约有2.9万人表示他们“完全不考虑”，其余的人则在下列选项中进行选择：“准备好了，迫不及待”，“已提上日程”，或“犹豫中，很多问题待考虑”。

poll

1）作名词，表示“民意测验；民意调查”，英文解释为“A poll is a survey in which people are asked their opinions about something, usually in order to find out how popular something is or what people intend to do in the future.”复数形式polls可以特指“选举投票；计票”（the process of voting at an election; the process of counting the votes），举个例：

Polls show that the European treaty has gained support in Denmark.

民意测验显示，欧洲条约已经在丹麦获得支持。

2）作动词，表示“对…进行民意调查”，英文解释为“If you are polled on something, you are asked what you think about it as part of a survey.”举个例：

More than 2,000 people were polled.

2000多人接受了民意调查。

3）作动词，表示“获得…选票”，英文解释为“If a political party or a candidate polls a particular number or percentage of votes, they get that number or percentage of votes in an election.”举个例：

The result showed he had polled enough votes to force a second ballot.

结果显示他获得了足够的选票来促使第二轮选举。

hesitate

表示“犹豫，踌躇”，英文解释为“to pause before you do or say something, often because you are uncertain or nervous about it”举个例：

"Do you love me?" he asked. She hesitated and then said, "I'm not sure."

“你爱我吗？”他问道。她犹豫了一下，然后说：“我不确定。”

The poll was later removed.

该投票后来被删除。

"I am willing to have three children if you give me 5 million yuan ($785,650)," one user posted.

“如果你给我500万元人民币（785,650美元），我愿意生三个孩子，”一位用户发帖说。

Shares in birth- and fertility-related companies surged.

与出生和生育有关的公司的股票大涨。

fertility

表示“富饶；丰产；生殖力；能生育性；可繁殖性”，英文解释为“the state of being fertile”，如：a fertility symbol 生殖力的象征，declining fertility rates 下降的生育率，the fertility of the soil/land 土壤的肥沃；土地的丰饶，a god of fertility 丰收之神，fertility treatment (= medical help given to a person to help them have a baby) 不孕症治疗。

Early this month, China's once-in-a-decade census showed that the population grew at its slowest rate during the last decade since the 1950s, to 1.41 billion. Data also showed a fertility rate of just 1.3 children per woman for 2020 alone, on a par with ageing societies like Japan and Italy.

本月初，中国十年一次的人口普查显示，自20世纪50年代以来，中国人口在过去十年中增长速度最慢，达到14.1亿。数据还显示，仅在2020年，育龄妇女生育率就只有1.3，与日本和意大利等老龄化社会相当。

census

census /ˈsensəs/ 表示“人口普查”，英文解释为“A census is an official survey of the population of a country that is carried out in order to find out how many people live there and to obtain details of such things as people's ages and jobs.”举个例：

The detailed assessment of the latest census will be ready in three months.

有关最新人口普查的详细评估工作将在3个月内就绪。

China's politburo also said it would phase in delays in retirement ages, but did not provide any details.

中国的政治局还表示，它将逐步推迟退休年龄，但没有提供任何细节。

phase in

表示“逐步采用；分阶段实施”，英文解释为“to introduce something gradually or in stages”举个例：

They will phase the new healthcare system in over a period of five years.

他们将在5年内逐步实施新的医疗保健计划。

Fines of 130,000 yuan ($20,440) were being imposed on people for having a third child as of late last year.

截至去年年底，对生第三胎的人处以13万元人民币（20,440美元）的罚款。

impose

表示“推行；强制实行”，英文解释为“to officially force a rule, tax, punishment, etc. to be obeyed or received”举个例：

Very high taxes have recently been imposed on cigarettes.

最近对香烟开征很高的税。

《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇分析拜登贸易政策的文章中提到：The other matter is what Mr Biden will do with the tariffs imposed by Mr Trump. 另一件事是拜登将如何处理特朗普实施的关税。

as of

表示“自…起；到...时候为止”，英文解释为“used to indicate a time or date at which something begins or ends”举个例：

As of next month, all the airline's fares will be going up.

自下月起，所有航空公司的机票价格都将上调。

"I'm super happy," said Su Meizhen, a human resources manager in Beijing, who is pregnant with her third child.

“我超级高兴，”北京的一名人力资源经理苏美珍（Su Meizhen, 音译）说，她正怀着第三个孩子。

"We won't have to pay the fine and we'll be able to get a hukou," she said, referring to the urban residence permit that enables families to receive benefits including sending their children to local public schools.

她说：“我们将不必支付罚款，而且能够获得户口。”她指的是城市居住证，它使家庭能够获得包括将其子女送入当地公立学校的福利。

fine

1）作名词，表示“罚款，罚金”，英文解释为“an amount of money that has to be paid as a punishment for not obeying a rule or law”；

2）作动词，表示“处…以罚款，处…以罚金”，英文解释为“to charge someone an amount of money as a punishment for not obeying a rule or law”举个例：

Drivers who exceed the speed limit can expect to be fined heavily.

超速驾车的司机会被罚以重金。